Panama Economic Activity November 2016

Panama: Economic activity gathers pace in November

January 25, 2017

In November, the monthly indicator for economic activity (IMAE, Índice Mensual de Actividad Económica) rose from a 3.7% expansion in October to a stronger 4.6% rise. According to the National Comptroller’s Office (Contraloría General de la República), November’s print reflects growth in all components of the index except for manufacturing industries, fishing and communal activities. Commerce, transportation, financial intermediation and warehousing and communications were the components that expanded at the fastest pace.

On a month-on-month basis, growth in economic activity slowed from 0.65% in October to 0.33% in November. Meanwhile, annual average growth in economic activity stayed put in November at the 4.3% expansion observed in the previous month.

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists project that the economy will grow 5.7% in 2017, which is unchanged from last month’s forecast. The panel also expects GDP to also expand 5.7% in 2018.

According to data released by the National Comptroller’s Office (Contraloría General de la República) on 15 December, in year-on-year terms the economy grew 5.4% in Q3, a slight improvement from Q2’s 5.2% growth, and the second-best performance since the beginning of 2016.